Visitor Engagement Trainee with Summerlee Museum of Scottish Industrial Life

Location: Coatbridge

The MuseumSummerlee Museum is one of Scotland’s most significant industrial museums. It is a museum of social and industrial history with Recognised Collection status. It occupies the site of Summerlee ironworks, last put into ‘blast’ in the 1930s and a section of the Monkland Canal, both of which are Scheduled Ancient Monuments. The museum preserves and interprets the history of the iron, steel, coal and engineering industries. It is one of the major tourist attractions in the area, attracting over 140,000 visitors per year, has four star Visit Scotland status and is fully Accredited. Summerlee is also a unique and important community resource, delivering a wide range of opportunities for public enjoyment and learning.

The RoleThe traineeship will focus on the Learning and Engagement stream. A range of opportunities will be available across the modules on offer. The trainee can be involved in the organisation and delivery of exhibitions and events planned for 2015, from iron, beauty and art exhibitions to steam fairs, Victorian fun days and First World War re-enactments. The trainee will also be involved in developing and delivering learning resources for schools and virtual visitors. Additional options include customer service, visitor evaluation and the delivery of tours in Summerlee’s main exhibition hall.

The DetailsThe trainee will be based in the Summerlee Ironworks Building within the museum site. They will not belong to a particular team but will work across the Learning, Visitor Services and Curatorial teams. This will give them a good insight and experience of the range of work undertaken in museums.

The trainee will benefit from a range of different learning experiences, from self-led learning, in-house training, internal and external training courses, coaching, job shadowing and opportunities to network and visit other museums. There will be a wide range of opportunities available for the trainee to develop their skills and experience in most aspects of museum work from learning and access, audience development, collections care and interpretation to digital resources and customer services. Museum staff will provide in-house training in these areas and the trainee will be actively encouraged to carry out their own research.

Some weekend and evening work will be required to cover events outwith normal office hours.

Two traineeships are available at Summerlee Museum of Scottish Industrial Life.

The Modules As part of the SVQ Level 3 in Museums Practice all traineeships will cover mandatory units in background and workplace skills which will focus on:• CCSCCS30: Understanding the sector in which you work and the wider creative and cultural context• CCSCCS32: Taking responsibility for your work in a creative and cultural organisation and self-evaluation• CCSCCS33: Planning and implementing your professional development in the creative and cultural industries• CCSCV9: Cataloguing objects and collections within a cultural venue• CCSCV15: Contributing to the care of items within a cultural venue

Within the Visitor Engagement Traineeship at Summerlee Museum of Scottish Industrial Life you will also have the opportunity to complete 4 of the following modules: (Trainees must complete 2 from their chosen stream plus an additional 2 from any other stream or optional modules)

Learning and Engagement• CCSCCS70: Assisting with learning for a creative and cultural organisation• CCSCSV17 / CCSCCS71: Supporting the organisation of events and exhibitions / Delivering an event or programme of events for learning and interpretation for a creative and cultural organisation• CCSCCS22: Assisting customers, visitors or audiences in getting the best from their experience of a creative and cultural organisation• CCSCCS73: Delivering community engagement for a creative and cultural organisation• CCSCCS76: Evaluating the customer, audience or visitor experience of a creative and cultural organisation• CCSCV16: Preparing for and deliver guided tours for visitors to cultural venues

Collections and Interpretation• CCSCCS72: Delivering interpretation for exhibitions or displays for a creative or cultural organisation• CCSCH54: Providing specific information on a collection for a cultural heritage organisation